Towards the end of the 2020-21 NBA season, the Boston Celtics and their fans witnessed another leap from Jayson Tatum.
After he recovered from COVID-19, the All-Star forward was driving to the rim with force and finishing at a rate nobody had ever seen from him before. With this finishing rate came an increase in free throws, which ballooned his scoring totals.
Now, after falling to the Brooklyn Nets in the first round of the playoffs, Tatum enters the most extended offseason of his young NBA career.
He will have plenty of time to rest after playing nearly 36 minutes per game last season and more time to polish his already well-rounded game.
Drew Hanlen has already discussed at length what he and Tatum will focus on this summer.
In an interview with the Boston Herald, Hanlen made multiple remarks regarding improving Tatum’s game inside the arc, stating:
"“When Jayson shot a high volume of free throw, he put up huge numbers. That’s the big focus-being able to get downhill more, which allows him to get to the line more, which allows him to add another dynamic to his game. That’s the focus.”"
What Hanlen and Tatum do in the summer is under their control, but it’s up to the Boston Celtics to maximize what they are working on by constructing a roster that compliments the soon-to-be fifth-year baller and to put him in a role that allows him to blossom.
Let’s take a look at 3 ways Brad Stevens and Ime Udoka can go about doing just that:
Boston Celtics should focus on floor spacing
Last season, the Boston Celtics did an abysmal job of spacing the floor around Jayson Tatum. They relied heavily on younger players to hit shots created by the All-Star, which led to opposing defenses not respecting the C’s perimeter shooters.
On top of their immature personnel, they did not have a floor-spacing big.
Instead, Danny Ainge gave Tatum three paint cloggers and only one elite roll man who did not play significant minutes until after the trade deadline.
Tristan Thompson, Daniel Theis, and Robert Williams is an unacceptable center rotation.
Since Stevens has taken over, he has done an excellent job reshaping the roster to solve this dilemma. Bringing in Al Horford and sending out Kemba Walker will do wonders for the team’s spacing.
Horford shot 37 percent on 152 3-pointers attempted last season with the Thunder in just 28 games.
However, Boston cannot settle after making this trade.
They still need to send out Thompson and bring in more shooters on the wings. If the Celtics want to keep Aaron Nesmith, his development should be a priority since he will be one of Tatum’s floor spacers off the bench.
Evan Fournier needs to be re-signed, and Stevens needs to bring in one more movement shooter for good measure.
Having multiple shooters around Jayson Tatum means two things — teams are less likely to send doubles at him, and Boston’s offense will have more player and ball movement.
Both of those things were severely lacking last season, and if Boston wants to contend, both need to change.
Boston Celtics should set more precise screens
One of Daniel Theis’ biggest strengths was his screen setting, specifically his “seals” under the rim to get Boston open layups.
Brad Stevens utilized Theis’ undersized frame to slip him under opposing rim protectors so they would be helpless as any one of Boston’s scorers drove to the rim.
After losing Theis at the trade deadline, Stevens could not deploy this tactic nearly as often with Tristan Thompson and Robert Williams. Although Udoka will still struggle to introduce this tactic with his top two centers, he can implement it into Grant Williams’ repertoire if Stevens chooses to keep him.
In the last two seasons, Jayson Tatum and Grant Williams played 1164 minutes together. In that time, they sustained an elite 8.83 net rating with a 117 offensive rating.
Williams has always seemed to blossom next to Tatum, and he can return the favor next season as a sealer on Tatum’s drives to the rim.
Additionally, Udoka needs to sit down and have a conversation with Boston’s big man core regarding where he wants Tatum’s screens set.
Setting Tatum’s screens higher is not a new idea, yet Boston is still very inconsistent about setting screens for him. Ideally, every single screen on the perimeter for Tatum is set three or four feet behind the arc.
There are multiple advantages of setting a higher screen for Jayson Tatum.
The first being he has more room to punish drop coverage with his elite 3-point shooting.
The second being he has more time to force a switch and, therefore, a mismatch between him and the big man.
The third being he has more room to get downhill and use his long strides to blow by the defending big man.
Tatum’s burst is very average, but his stride, length, and wingspan are so significant that it makes up the difference. The Boston Celtics can leverage these physical tools on top of his world-class long-range shooting by simply setting their screens a few feet higher.
Boston Celtics should leverage Jayson Tatum’s off-ball abilities
The C’s offense last season was as stagnant as we have seen in recent years. With few ball handlers, no elite passers, few floor spacers, few creators, and a ton of paint-cloggers, Brad Stevens was forced to play more isolation ball than he probably liked.
With this offensive scheme came a lot of ball time for Tatum and not a lot of time off-ball.
We have seen Tatum be impactful off-ball, so all Udoka has to do is reinvent a role that the forward has already played in.
Udoka should leverage his 3-point shooting as much as possible off-ball. He’s too big to run DHO’s and pin-downs, but he can run designed routes off of Robert Williams rolls to get open looks from deep.
Jayson Tatum can be one of the best cutters in the NBA with all his physical traits if he’s encouraged to do so.
His 3-point threat makes it so defenders have to play him tight, so Tatum can use his long strides to blow right by them and dive to the rim for an open deuce.
Having him cut to the dunker spot or curl to the middle of the floor are things Brad Stevens has had him do in the past; it’s time to bring that back.